As I talk with facilitators of National Fatherhood Initiative's (NFI's) fatherhood programs, I'm constantly amazed by facilitators' creativity.

One of the creative things many facilitators do is to find resources that enhance the content of our programs or address an issue or topic not addressed in our programs but that are important for the dads they serve, or that help dads tap into their emotions or induce a positive mood into a group setting.

During the past four weeks, I have blogged about a collaboration between National Fatherhood Initiative® and the Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP) to create a brief that raises awareness among states and others that use the Strengthening Families™ approach to increase family strengths, enhance child development, and reduce the likelihood of child abuse and neglect.

During the past three weeks, I have blogged about a collaboration between National Fatherhood Initiative® and the Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP) to create a brief that raises awareness among states and others that use the Strengthening Families™ approach to increase family strengths, enhance child development, and reduce the likelihood of child abuse and neglect.

National Fatherhood Initiative® (NFI) is committed to helping organizations that use our fatherhood programs meet the challenges they face in serving dads.

One of the most significant challenges is retaining dads in a fatherhood program. To that end, NFI has used the latest behavioral science research on what makes people more likely to stick with a beneficial behavior (e.g. attending a fatherhood program) to develop tools that increase dads' commitment to attend a program on a consistent basis.

During the past two weeks, I have blogged about a collaboration between National Fatherhood Initiative® and the Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP) to create a brief that raises awareness among states and others that use the Strengthening Families™ approach to increase family strengths, enhance child development, and reduce the likelihood of child abuse and neglect.

Last week I introduced you to a collaboration between National Fatherhood Initiative® and the Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP) to create a brief that raises awareness among states and others that use the Strengthening Families™ approach to increase family strengths, enhance child development, and reduce the likelihood of child abuse and neglect. (Click here to view and download the brief from the Free Resources section of NFI’s website.)

Do you work with fathers who struggle with money? Sadly, some dads see their role strictly as check-writer-in-chief while other dads struggle to make ends meet.

It doesn't have to be this way. Whether it's child support, legal fees, or having to work two and three jobs to pay for life, many dads struggle with money. Most dads need to learn how vital money management is to their role of being good dads.

We created this new tool to teach dads why they should manage their money and give them an easy action plan to help handle money.

Strengthening Families™ is a research-informed approach to increase family strengths, enhance child development, and reduce the likelihood of child abuse and neglect. It is based on engaging families, programs, and communities in building five protective factors:

Parental resilience

Social connections

Knowledge of parenting and child development

Concrete support in times of need

Social and emotional competence of children

Using the Strengthening Families™ framework, more than 30 states are shifting policy and practice to help programs working with children and families focus on protective factors. States apply the Strengthening Families approach in early childhood, child welfare, child abuse prevention, and other child and family serving systems.

I try to stay up on the latest blog posts about fatherhood. Often, I share helpful articles on NFI's social media channels. But, when RolandWarren, the former President and current board member of NFI, wrote about fatherhood recenty, I had to share it here on the blog. Why? Well, Mr. Warren knows a thing or two about fatherhood.

In his newest post, Warren shares a personal story of how he experienced bullying and what he did about it. Review his story as a resource to help you help the dads you serve.

Picture this scene. You're facilitating a fatherhood program--perhaps National Fatherhood Initiative's 24/7 Dad® program (wink, wink). Several of the dads rarely if ever speak up. You desperately want to know their thoughts and get them engaged with the program. What do you do?